The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name.

The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at the hands of a drunk driver,[1] was first published by Caliber Comics in 1989.

[2] The Crow first appeared on the back cover of Deadworld #10 (November 1988); James O'Barr provided a back cover to the first comic book Caliber Press published, which contained an advertisement for the upcoming The Crow appearance in Caliber Presents #1.

The ads shows The Crow standing with a smoking shotgun in one hand and a samurai sword in the other, with the statement, "For Some Things...There Is No Forgiveness".

The Crow's first in-story appearance was in Caliber Presents #1 (January 1989), in the story "Inertia", which serves as a prelude to the main series.

Four issues, titled "Pain", "Fear", "Irony", and "Despair", take readers through a series of vengeance tales as The Crow cuts and shoots through Tin-Tin, Tom-Tom, Top Dollar, Funboy and T-Bird, the gang members that attacked and killed him and his lover Shelly.

In A Caliber Christmas (December 1989), Eric reflects back on happier times with Shelly in the story "Atmosphere".

Caliber Presents #15 (September 1990) contained a key preview of The Crow #5, titled "Death" which was left unpublished.

Following the Kitchen Sink series, London Night Studios published The Crow/Razor: Kill the Pain in 1998, which saw Eric Draven paired with Everette Hartsoe's bad girl character Razor in five numbered issues (#0–4), plus "Finale" and "The Lost Chapter" in February 1999.

O'Barr described the additions as including "more romance flashback scenes between Eric and Shelly", as well as sequences that would make the work "more visually interesting".

The crow acts as both a guide and goad for Eric, giving him information that helps him in his quest, but also chastising him for dwelling on Shelly's death, seeing his pining as useless self-indulgence that distracts him from his purpose.

Authors of these novels included such notable names as Chet Williamson (City of Angels novelization and Clash By Night), David Bischoff (Quoth the Crow), Poppy Z. Brite (The Lazarus Heart), S. P. Somtow (Temple of Night), Norman Partridge (Wicked Prayer), and A.

In 1998, O'Barr and editor Ed Kramer asked an array of fiction writers, poets, and artists—including Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, Charles de Lint, Jack Dann, Jane Yolen, Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop—to interpret this Gothic fiction phenomenon.

The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams[16] was released by Random House on Halloween; and a year later, in a limited signed and numbered volume, by Donald M. Grant Publishing.

The Crow: City of Angels is a 1997 action video game for Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows.

[20] Players control Angel, Devil, and Neutral Bystander cards and then send them into combat with "opposing [P]ersonalities".